1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for personalizing a data storage medium. More precisely at least one property of a non-recorded data area is modified thereby creating determined patterns on or in the data storage medium. The invention also relates to a data storage medium which carries such determined patterns, and to a device for transferring such determined patterns on or in the data storage medium.
A data storage medium is commonly used to store data in its specific data areas. Recording data in these data areas often results in the modification of at least one property where data is recorded, i.e. a modification of a physical property. Eventually the modifications lead to a coded representation in the data areas, e.g. in binary or analog code, of the data to record. The property to change depends on the nature of the data storage medium used. The property may for example be a magnetization if the data storage medium is a magnetic tape or disc, or a physical deformation of a surface in case of an optical disk. In the latter case the data is typically stored along concentric or spiral tracks which define a recorded data area of the disc having different optical properties than non recorded data areas, e.g. a modified reflectance. The difference between non recorded and recorded data areas may be seen through the eyes of a user.
2. Description of Prior Art
In order to label a data storage medium, such that a user may identify the data storage medium by reading the label with his eye, it is known to print a label on information areas of the data storage medium not designed as data areas to record data. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,337, Ewaldt, shows an apparatus for printing label information in the form of graphics and/or characters on a disk shaped information carrier. The label information is prepared by a data processing system and transferred to a printer. The printer prints the label information directly on an information area. The apparatus for printing is distinct from an apparatus used for recording data in data areas. As a consequence, two distinct operations, namely printing and recording are required when producing a recorded data storage medium.
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages encountered in the Prior Art by providing a solution for simply personalizing a data storage medium without using a separate apparatus for printing.
In one aspect the present invention provides a method for personalizing a recordable data storage medium comprising modifying at least one property of non recorded data areas of the data storage medium to store data and creating a determined pattern by further using the modifying of the one property of determined non recorded data areas.
In a second aspect the present invention provides a data storage medium on or in which data is represented in data areas which have at least one property different from that of a non-recorded data area. The data storage medium comprises determined data areas representing determined patterns and having the one property different from that of a non-recorded data area.
In a third aspect the present invention provides a device for transferring determined patterns on or in a data storage medium, comprising processing means to process the determined patterns and transferring means to transfer the processed determined patterns on or in the data storage medium. The transferring means act on a data area of the data storage medium designed to store data by modifying a property of a determined non-recorded data area in a similar manner as if data is stored such to create the determined patterns.